Chemistry

Tim Funk

Professor

Chemistry

Contact

Email

tfunk@gettysburg.edu

Phone

(717) 337 - 6348

Box

Campus Box 0393

Address

Science Center
Room 243
300 North Washington St.
Gettysburg, PA 17325-1400

Website

Funk Lab Website

Education

PhD California Institute of Technology, 2006
BS Gettysburg College, 2000

Academic Focus

synthetic organic chemistry, organometallic catalysis, environmentally sustainable chemical synthesis

Students doing research in my lab learn the techniques involved in synthetic chemistry, including running reactions under an inert atmosphere, various purification methods, and structural characterization using NMR spectroscopy. Multistep syntheses are common, and students learn how to be strategic about what experiments to perform in what order. Overall, my goal is for my research students to be confident and independent in the lab and make meaningful intellectual contributions to our science.

Research Interests

My students and I are interested in the broad field of synthetic organic chemistry, including the development of therapeutics and environmentally sustainable processes. Our main areas of research include:

  • the synthesis of complex structures with potential medicinal applications;
  • the design and synthesis of unnatural, ionizable lipids;
  • the application of transition metal catalysts to organic chemistry;
  • the development of sustainable chemical synthesis methods. 

We recently established a collaboration with Prof. Vincent Venditto at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy to synthesize novel, ionizable lipids for the development of nucleic acid-based (e.g., RNA, DNA) therapies. My students and I are preparing libraries of lipids with targeted structural changes to learn how lipid structures affect biological activity. Our goal is to develop lipids that can encapsulate and deliver various forms of RNA and/or DNA into cells, where they will have a therapeutic effect (e.g., producing a protein of interest or silencing an undesired gene). 

For the last 15 years, we have been developing air-stable (cyclopentadienone)iron di- and tricarbonyl compounds for use as transfer hydrogenation and dehydrogenation catalysts. Iron has a high natural abundance on earth, so these catalysts are more sustainable than those based on precious metals. We are also exploring the use of plant-based hydrogen donors and acceptors, which further increases the sustainability of these reactions. We discovered that these compounds catalyze a variety of oxidative and reductive transformations including alcohol oxidations, ketone and aldehyde reductions, oxidative cyclizations of diols, and selective epoxide ring-openings. Catalyst design is at the heart of our work, and we are constantly thriving to develop more active, air-stable iron catalysts. Additionally, we are interested in understanding the mechanism of these iron-catalyzed reactions to aid in further catalyst development. We have received funding from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, and the National Science Foundation. 

Gettysburg College undergraduate students who are interested in these areas are encouraged to contact me to talk about research opportunities. 

Courses Taught